Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits his side needed blast of hairdryer treatment 'to wake them up' after woeful first half in 3-3 draw with Sheffield United

With old manager Ferguson watching from the stands at Bramall Lane, under-performing United left Norwegian 'angry and disappointed' at half-time

Sheffield United's Oliver McBurnie, right, celebrates after making it 3-3 against Manchester United at Bramall Lane. AFP

Sheffield United's Oliver McBurnie scores their third goal. Reuters

Mason Greenwood scores Manchester United's second goal. Getty

Brandon Williams scores Manchester United's first goal. Reuters

Brandon Williams celebrates his goal. Getty

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford celebrates after scoring his side's third goal. PA

Lys Mousset of Sheffield United scores his sides second goal. Getty

Lys Mousset, left, of Sheffield United celebrates after scoring. Getty

John Fleck scores Sheffield United's first goal. Getty

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Reuters

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, right, and his Sheffield United counterpart Chris Wilder. PA

David McGoldrick, left, of Sheffield United and Manchester United's Fred. Getty

John Fleck, right, of Sheffield United celebrates after scoring. Getty

Harry Maguire of Manchester United. Getty

Sheffield United's David McGoldrick, left, and Phil Jones of Manchester United. PA

Sheffied United on the attack against Sheffield United. Getty

Manchester United's Harry Maguire shoots at goal. Reuters

Sheffield United's John Fleck scores their first goal. Reuters

Manchester United's Anthony Martial. Reuters

Sheffield United's Lys Mousset, left, and Brandon Williams of Manchester United. PA

Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in the stands at Bramall Lane. Reuters

Sheffield United's David McGoldrick shoots at goal. Reuters

Manchester United's Andreas Pereira is challenged by Lys Mousset of Sheffield United. Reuters

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted his young side needed a touch of the old hairdryer treatment in the dressing room at half-time to 'wake them up' after a dire performance in Sunday's 3-3 draw at Sheffield United.

The Reds were woeful in the first half at Bramall Lane and were fortune to be only one down, to John Fleck's finish.

And with his old manager Alex Ferguson, whose half-time rants were so legendary they were given their own 'hairdryer' nickname, watching from the stands, Solskjaer revealed his fury at United's efforts in the opening 45 minutes. And his mood would not have improved when Lys Mousset doubled the hosts' lead early in the second half.

However, the Norwegian took some comfort from a sparkling seven-minute spell his side produced to turn the game on its head as goals from Brandon Williams, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford, who put the Reds in front after 79 minutes.

Solskjaer was denied a sixth victory in the last seven matches by Oliver McBurnie's last-minute equaliser but he believes he and his players can take some positives from what had been a dire situation.

"It was a very poor performance. I'm thinking back to Everton last season – that team gave up and this team didn't. So when we turned it around it's a great response to get from the boys," said Solskjaer.

"We did play badly in the first half. We didn't win any challenges, we weren't first to the ball, we didn't stick to what we had planned. I could have changed all the players at half-time, except David [De Gea] as he kept us in it.

"You don't expect them to give up, but last year we did. Today we didn't. Even though the big part of this game is a negative and we are disappointed with it, the overriding feeling is a positive because of the character to stick in there and turn it around.

"I was angry, disappointed at half-time. I had to wake them up. We had to go for it in the second half. We lacked desire in the first half and they had it.

"You've got to earn the right to win the game and we didn't have any right to win the game after 70 minutes.

"But the boys will have learned a lesson from the 71st minute to the 90th, or whenever they scored. You must remember that these players are young. The first goal gave them belief.

"It's not desire in terms of the word desire, maybe it's confidence in themselves. I don't doubt them wanting to win, sometimes young players don't really know how to win challenges like this and we must have learned a lot today, I'm sure we have.

"They've come through the academy most of these boys and in the academy you don't play in these kind of games, despite trying to teach them to play without fear, and they will have learned a lot in this 90-odd minutes – so there will be some pluses as well."

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder was left to rue the seven-minute spell that turned the match on its head. However, he was also pleased with the way his team responded to that disappointment by striking back to earn a point.

Wilder said: "Can we forget about that period, please? We just dropped off our energy levels. The old saying '2-0 is a dangerous scoreline' turned into 'oops, we're 3-2 down'.

"And you've got to give them credit, just as you have us with the way we fought ourselves back at the death to get ourselves something out of the game.

"It just flicked a switch for them when they got back into the game at 2-1, with what, from our point of view, is a goal out of nothing.

"No disrespect to the level we have come from, but we are talking Daniel James, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford and when they say yes, which they did, then the momentum and the scoreline dramatically changed.

"I would have been really disappointed had we not got anything from this game because for the majority of the time we were right up there in terms of the performance levels."